ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND THE BATTLE FOR AUTHENTICITY: SAFEGUARDING TRUTH IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a double-edged force in contemporary mass communication, enabling media innovation while accelerating the production and circulation of synthetic misinformation, particularly deepfakes. This paper examines the paradoxical role of AI in both facilitating and countering AI-generated disinformation, with a focus on its implications for public trust, media ethics, and democratic communication. Grounded in Media Literacy Theory, the study adopts a qualitative document analysis of academic literature, policy reports, technical studies, and verified media cases, including evidence from Kenya’s 2022 general elections and comparable Sub-Saharan African contexts. The analysis shows that although AI-based detection and forensic tools offer important mitigation potential, their effectiveness is constrained by data bias, limited regional applicability, and unresolved ethical and regulatory challenges. In response, the paper advances a conceptual framework for AI-mediated authenticity, which conceptualizes authenticity as a negotiated outcome shaped by the interaction between AI generation technologies, detection systems, media literacy capacities, ethical norms, and policy environments. By foregrounding African democratic and media contexts, the study contributes an Africa-centered theoretical perspective to global debates on deepfakes and proposes practical recommendations for policymakers, educators, media practitioners, and technology developers aimed at safeguarding truth in the digital age.